¡Adiós 2010! ¡Bienvenido 2011!

New Year, new commitments! I have been out of touch in the blogging world for quite some time—since August! OUCH!! As one of my New Year’s resolutions, I am going to try to increase my blogging. I am pretty certain that daily is out of the question, so for now, I will attempt weekly, and I may even go for twice weekly, with more often being a bonus.

To get back on track, since I only blogged a few times last year, I will do a quick year in review. We ended 2009 with the loss of my father-in-law, so the year 2010 started on a sad note. Many changes have come about in the family since then. My mother-in-law sold the 40+ year family home in April, moved into a senior living apartment, which we sensed right away was not her cup of tea, then announced the purchase of a new home in December, which is being prepped for occupation this month. Of course her move from the old home meant my single-over-40 brother-in-law had to find new digs as well. He purchased his first home after ten months in an apartment, and is moving this week as well. More moves happened at our house and my employers’. All of my adult children have now left the nest and are learning first-hand the work and expenses involved to maintain an abode. The main office of one of my jobs relocated, which allowed me to score a new home office set-up, which is still in progress. I am hoping for increased organization and productivity. We also had to make several temporary moves at my other employer, which got old after awhile—hopefully they will have things figured out if I return in spring.


January started off with a health scare for my hubby, which resulted in numerous high tech tests and biopsies. One year later, we are cautiously optimistic, with a rescreen scheduled for April. I also spent a little more time with the doctor, chiropractor, and physical therapist this year. (I’m happy to report that six years after the retirement of my favorite family physician, I have found a doctor I trust once again.) Between all the people working on me, my bum shoulder returned to 95% healthier, my back about 90%, my depression & ADHD issues are almost under control, and less frequent migraines. With a few small dietary changes and slight bit more activity, I lost 20 pounds from May-October 2009, gained back 10 from October 2009-April 2010, and have now lost that 10 and another 12, for a grand total of 32 pounds since May 2009! Yippee—hope it never finds me again! Here’s a toast to great health in 2011.

I am thankful for the continuing health of my parents, which is brought to light when I see some of the struggles others their age face. I spent a great deal of time working with my Mother and my sister on some family legal issues, and other than the headaches of legal jargon, our time together was very rewarding. I hope to be able to spend an equal or greater amount of bonding time with family this year.

Work has been about the same. I split my time between two part time jobs. I love one more than the other, but until there is an opportunity to go full time at this one, I will hang onto the other a while longer. (I actually like the responsibilities at both jobs, but the management decisions at one can make it unbearable at times).

Probably the biggest event of my year was turning fifty, and I found it wasn’t so different from being 49, or 48, or 47, or……19.  The only thing different about 50 is it just seems like I have less time to accomplish everything I want, and I feel like I’ve barely touched the surface!

I am on a mission to become more organized in 2011. I got a little head start in 2010, but the bulk of the projects will hopefully be accomplished in 2011. I look forward to organizing my tubs of photos (and hopefully completing at least a few albums), continuing my efforts to pull the family history together and completing a written narrative, blog more often, de-clutter, do some remodeling, and once again attempt a garden (mine failed miserably last year). I think planning a family reunion is in order, as well, perhaps linked with my father’s upcoming 80th birthday this summer. It will be another busy year, and that is just the way I like it!

Happy New Year to You and Yours! ~Abra

Hello Old Friends...It's Been Awhile

Hello! Gosh it's been awhile. How have you been? I wish I could tell you that my absence from the blogosphere was because I had something very exciting going on in my life, like a trip to an exotic (and warm) destination, but sadly, I've been here all along, waiting out the winter with a gigantic stash of comfort foods. Yup, the only thing that has gone south is my derriere, bogged down with bread pudding, mashed potatoes with butter and gravy, oatmeal-butterscotch cookies, homemade cinnamon rolls...you get the picture.

Along with my butt, life in general has been on the south end for a while, as well. After three months filled with funerals (a young community member, a cousin, my father-in-law, and a family friend, plus a few not as close acquaintances), a few family issues I can't publicly discuss other than to say I was definitely blindsided by them, a health scare for my husband (thankfully, a mass discovered was benign), my own ongoing health issues (migraines, back & neck problems, and now treatment for a rotator cuff issue), a couple extra unemployed adults to feed and house (there are possible job offers pending--TG), and decreased income from job losses/cuts with increased debt from medical bills and major house malfunctions, is it any wonder that depression reared its ugly head in my life? I am now getting that under control and hopefully life will get back on a smooth road once again. The sun is peeking out....whew!!

I guess my resolve to be more consistent in my blogging didn't work out so well, either. Often times, writing is a stress buster for me. Believe me, there were more than a few times that I thought I had an idea worth writing about, only to fizzle out by the time I had a chance. Sometimes I felt the need to write, but much of the need would have been to get negativity off my chest, but who wants to read that? In a similar fashion to not saying anything if you have nothing nice to say, I felt if I had nothing good to write, I wouldn't write anything at all. I am truly wanting to go to blogging and thinking in a positive mind frame, dealing with the negative as it comes, but searching for the good in life.

Bright spots are coming through these days. I can tell spring is around the corner by the increased level of chirping in the trees outside my house. Rather than running to do their business and quickly scampering inside, my dogs have been lingering outside, noses to the ground, as if they can actually smell life under the waist high snow piles and still ice-covered walking paths. This old house (101 years) has been creaking more lately; I imagine it too is starting to thaw from this brutal winter. Believe me, with March knocking on the door, spring could not come soon enough for me. It would be nice if the melting doesn't happen too fast, though, so the flooding is minimized. I worry for all of those who live in areas that may once again be struggling with flooding issues. With my basement actually being inhabited by humans instead of spiders and the occasional mouse, I would hope to not have water problems there, either!

I have been drawn in by the Winter Olympics this year. I love to watch ice dancing and speed skating. The women's and men's half pipes competitions were also spectacular. I imagine the skiing is nerve racking--I wouldn't want to drive in a car as fast as some of those skiers are flying; I can't imagine being on a mountainside racing that fast! I think of all the bumps and falls and how these athletes carry on day after day, compared to my aging body, which can't seem to handle even the smallest falls or bumps. Quite the stamina these athletes have! I have been especially interested in hockey this year, particularly men's hockey. David Backes, a member of the USA men's team (and member of the NHL's St. Louis Blues team) is the son of my husband's cousin. It has been great to see someone from humble roots work tenaciously to achieve personal goals. He is truly an example of a blue collar working class family's hard work and sacrifices to reach for the gold! I was bummed when the first few games were not broadcast on network television (I don't have cable), but was able to catch the games Wednesday and Friday (what an amazing game on Friday). I look forward to Sunday's rematch with Canada. Go team USA!

Time to get up and at 'em. Once again, the weekend will be filled with a myriad of activities, sandwiched between the need to declutter and continue organizing. It's not the North wind you'll be hearing this weekend folks, it's the whirr of my engines as I race to complete the tasks on my never-ending list. It's been said that an idle mind is the devil's playground, so I imagine idle hands must be forced to shovel coals. Happily, I am nowhere near heat, so perhaps this winter is a sign of true paradise. It has been angelically white, if I must say so myself, and my hands would rather be flapping out snow angels than shoveling coals any day!

Have a beautiful weekend and look out for signs of spring--it shouldn't be long now!